Time Management

Get your routines straight to boost your productivity

“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine”, John C. Maxwell

Truth be told, everyone has their own routine and daily habits. Ever since kindergarten, others were trying to create a routine for you to eat your breakfast, play with other kids, practice football, etc. But, your ability to follow those made-up routines was another thing.

Nevertheless, have you ever wondered how important a routine might be to your success and productivity? We interviewed our advisory board on the matter and it turns out that when it comes to achieving business success, regardless of the area of operation, having a routine is extremely important.

However, while trying to climb on our professional ladder, very often we neglect the small things that are significant part of our day. Various stakeholders involved in Corporate Finance and Law have provided us with suggestions on what could be the right starting points for developing your daily routine.

Food is best routine

Do you follow the ideal of: ‘Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar?’. Food is important for your productivity and it should always be included it in your routine, however, the prince (from the statement) should keep a good figure and have a small lunch. You can still enjoy a nice discussion with a colleague or your partner over a delicious meal, but overeating during this meal can have a negative effect and make you less productive.

Food should give you fuel and ideally be healthy, and not having the affect of preparing you for an afternoon nap. Thus, keep in mind what and how much you eat, but never leave food out of your routine!

Sport improves the way you think

Daily planning is important, but going to the gym several times a week might have a magical influence on your overall productivity. It is no secret that training reduces stress, removes negativity and makes us happier.

Of course training as many other activities has both short and long-term effects. And they depend on your final goal. If your aim is to refresh your body after a long day in the office, then the delightment would come short after. But if you are dreaming for the "perfect" body, then brace yourself. The big dreams require hard work! And by hard work I mean persistence and practice (i.e. routines). Be aware that this can be boring but keep pushing yourself and start the reps today!

Family role

Finding a healthy work-life-balance can be difficult. There are those “lucky ones” who manage to finish every task before heading home on time, however, others find it difficult to manage between their family and career.

In most cases, having a family puts pressure on being more responsible and productive, by having the desire to provide for your children and loved ones in the best way possible. Family can give you that extra boost to wake-up at 5am to make your children breakfast and stay up late to spend time with your partner, giving these elements of your routine the same importance as a meeting with the CEO.

Therefore, at the end of the day, you want to keep what is important to you as a priority and pay attention if you are dropping the ball.

Work on the go

Most of us spend too much time travelling, so why not use that time wisely?

Facebook might seem more appealing, but it will not pay your bills and give you additional time with your loved ones. With this considered, people from Corporate Finance and Law advice you to put in your headphones and do some reading on the train or make the plan for tomorrow’s meeting.

There is no reason to work after dinner if you organize your time better. Working on the go might be a good idea to plan into your daily routine and allow you to become more productive.

Prioritize your tasks in the right way

After all, prioritizing is an important part of forming a successful routine and our advisory board shared some of their strategies. As we know, there could be a million different tasks you need to get done in a day, but if you prioritize them in the right way, it will boost your productivity.

To avoid getting lost with a long list of tasks, start by assessing them and put the most important tasks on the top of the to-do list. After, plan the entire day and follow that plan (as strictly as possible). Remember, your brain can only focus on one task at a time, so use your time wisely and don’t multitask!

If there is too much on your list, consider asking for help from others or outsourcing tasks that could save your valuable time. One solution could be outsourcing the creation of your Power Point presentations by working with No-More! Write to us to find out how we can help and see what we can do by asking for a free trial!